Syria considering UN request to interview officials in Hariri assassination probe News
Syria considering UN request to interview officials in Hariri assassination probe

[JURIST] A Syrian official said Monday that the country has received a UN request to interview six officials in connection with the UN investigation [UN materials] into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], and is considering whether to comply. While Syrian officials declined to release the identity of the six officials, the al-Hayat newspaper reported Sunday that one was Assef Shawkat, the head of military intelligence and the brother in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile]. Shawkat was implicated [JURIST report] in the interim report [text] issued last month by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who is heading the UN investigation. The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution criticizing Syria's failure to cooperate [JURIST report] with the investigation, though Syria has since opened its own investigation [JURIST report] into the Hariri murder. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.